So what happens to those themes that didn't win... ?

Hey Simmers! After a flurry of voting, we now know that eco living won and will be the theme that this pack centers around. But what about the four other Stuff Pack themes you were presented with... what happens to them?

Well, when we started putting this plan together to create a stuff pack with the community, we knew we'd need ideas that fit some of your most popular requests, as well as themes that we could reasonably develop within a stuff pack. When we typically start work on a new stuff pack, we hold a theme brainstorm that includes members of various disciplines... usually it's a combination of design, production, art, and marketing. From that brainstorm we'll usually select two themes and develop those ideas further. That's what you saw in the theme vote. For this project we wanted to capture more of the ideas that you've requested, so we worked on extra themes so that you'd have a range of options to vote on.

I'll let you in on a little development quirk we've faced. While the voting periods on this stuff pack take a full business week, internally these would be decisions we'd make in a day. Because we're developing this pack with help from all of you, we have to account for the extra time it takes to allow people to vote and gather their feedback. That doesn't mean that our development milestones can be adjusted to add in that extra time though. With a studio this large, and with so many moving parts, it's important that we stick to our schedule so as to not cause ripple effects on other development efforts. Keeping that in mind, we planned ahead and started to work on preparing art style choices for multiple themes, as we didn't yet know which one would win. Normally we would not start this work until our theme selection was locked. This allowed us to get ahead of schedule, and will make it possible to start the vote on the pack's Art Style this coming Monday, April 10th.

All five options that you voted on were themes that the stuff pack team would be happy to create. Having some initial concept art in place for them has only inspired us further as to the possibilities they offer. With the result of the theme vote though, concept work on the four themes that didn't win has stopped. Thankfully none of the work that was already done will go to waste. We'll file these ideas and pieces of art away for the future. Some of them may get made into a Stuff Pack eventually, some could be incorporated into a Game or Expansion pack, and some may simply catch our eye as an object or piece of clothing we want to create someday. I can't specifically tell you what will become of them, because we ourselves don't know yet.

Maybe the themes that didn't win this time have inspired you as well. If you'd like to continue sharing the possibilities they could offer, I'd ask you to discuss them further on the Ideas Corner section of these forums. Even though this Stuff Pack we're building together is now locked into the eco living theme, we always value your feedback regarding the things that you want to see in The Sims!

While my ideas of more grim, goth, funeral planning, and a cemetery with the death flower didn't pan out, I'm glad you aren't scrapping the rest of the ideas. I didn't figure you would except maybe the starter home and arcade as they can be incorporated into many themes anyways. But, I figured that laundry and weddings would come eventually in some way. It was fun to vote and I can't wait to vote on content and hear ideas of what we could add to the game. Happy Simming team and fellow simmers.

I'm open to ideas. I just don't know what all eco entails since I haven't read any of the posts on it, but I can see promise there. Don't get me wrong by my post, I would like to have appliances, I just really liked the other gameplay. It will be fun and interesting to see what people come up with. If you see anything interesting and you have time don't hesitate to let me know.

Glad to hear that the other concepts aren't completely off the table for the future. I found it quite tricky to choose between 3 of the initial ideas. Thank you for letting the Sims community have this opportunity to get more involved.

I also would have preferred either the "Dangerous" concept or the "Arcade" concept, only because they would seem more entertaining to play around with, + I'll be honest, the "Eco" concept was about 2nd to last (ranked 4th) in my vote, but it does not discourage me from looking forward to voting for the other portions of this pack's development, as I'd still enjoy the process + seeing how creating a pack in general will turn out~
Thanks for including the community for this unusual chance to vote upon creating a pack!

To be honest, I'm more excited over this opportunity you've given us rather than what won or lost. It's really made me see the Sims in a new light to have access/input into the gaming process.

for once this is kind of how i feel i feel like yeah it does not mater what won or not it just feels awesome for a chance to have input to what is created which i think hypes up the game even more for me and makes me excited to know i was a small part of this.

They were all great concepts, but I do think that some like Dangerous or Weddings are bigger in scope than we would get in a stuff pack. I think the Eco-Living decision is a good one and I am looking forward to getting the pack when it is released. Thanks Maxis for your continuing work on the best PC game ever.

To be honest, I'm more excited over this opportunity you've given us rather than what won or lost. It's really made me see the Sims in a new light to have access/input into the gaming process.

Yeah this is how I feel too. I am really excited to be able to give input. So cool. I don't think this has ever been done before. It makes me feel like the team really does care. I knew they did before but this drives it home more. Makes it more personal. Also, it has made me think more about what goes into making these packs. I am glad to be a part of this process.

As someone who has done and been involved in focus groups & marketing, I can tell you, that these packs we are voting on are already in the planning stages and will at some time in the future see a release.

This "competition" of picking the pack, is just to see what is more popular and should be released first. I can guarantee one the "simgurus" will do the whole "due to overwhelming demand.."

As someone who has done and been involved in focus groups & marketing, I can tell you, that these packs we are voting on are already in the planning stages and will at some time in the future see a release.

This "competition" of picking the pack, is just to see what is more popular and should be released first. I can guarantee one the "simgurus" will do the whole "due to overwhelming demand.."

So, people should start polls and add the names of everyone who wants it, like the laundry one? Maybe that one will be the 2nd one?